Dark Sun
The Dark Sun, also known as the Dark Star or Ra's Dark Twin, is a zero-point energy field that is the complete opposite to our Sun. History Early History Being that it is the polar opposite to the Earth's sun, it is likely that the Dark Sun came into existence at the same time. At some unknown point in Earth's history, a race of super-ancient beings discovered the Dark Sun, and through their research learned that it comes closer to the central sun every few million years, but its deadly energy was blocked from hitting Earth by Jupiter and Saturn. However they predicted that on rare occassions the gaseous planets would not protect Earth, and that any life on the planet at that stage would be wiped out. They subsequently set about building a Machine to prevent the Dark Sun from doing so, and though they were able to prevent the Dark Star from approaching in their time, the Super-Ancient Beings realised that even after they were gone from the Earth (by extinction, or otherwise departing the planet), there may yet be intelligent life on Earth. To this end, they made the prevention of the Dark Star the second of five trials which would allow them to determine if a new sentient species did arise and were worthy of existing. The Super-Ancients also constructed a monument which, when used in conjunction with the Firestone as the Dark Sun's radiation was bearing upon the Earth (which would be weakened after being bent by the gravitational forces caused by Jupiter, Saturn and Titans' orbits, creating a brief path for the negative energy to travel) would reveal the locations of the Vertices that comprised the Machine. After the Super-Ancients were gone, the Dark Star continued to make the odd breach into the solar system, though the inner planets were largely unaffected by virtue of the gas planets' orbits. However, on one occasion, the Dark Sun's energy destroyed a small planet between Mars and Jupiter, causing an asteroid belt to form. At some point during the rise of human culture, the Super-Ancient Beings returned and provided a collective group with knowledge of the Dark Star, as well as tools that would allow them to find the Vertices of the Machine before the Dark Star returned and the six Pillars that were used to prime the Machine. However, some centuries after the group was created, a servant of one of their sub-kingdoms, Thuthmosis, fled from Cairo with all of the Pillars and most of the Sacred Stones, unwittingly putting the Earth at greater risk of being destroyed by the Dark Sun as the Pillars and Sacred Stone were scattered around the world. Around this era, the cannibalistic Neetha tribe moved into an ancient shrine where its various components could be used with the Firestone and Seeing Stone to view the Dark Star in its unknown light spectrum. Though they lacked the Firestone, the Neethans were able to discover the existence of the Dark Sun with the knowledge left in the shrine, and began worshiping it as their God of destruction, coming to call it Nepthys. Before The Six Sacred Stones In the millennia leading up to the present day, few details regarding the Dark Sun remained known by people outside of the Four Legendary Kingdoms, with Laozi being one of the few who knew or suspected the Dark Star existed. Archaeologists would find references to Ra's Dark Twin, but they were puzzled by the notion since Ra was considered by the Egyptians to be the sun. However, Napoléon Bonaparte became aware of a lag in Jupiter and Saturn's orbits and, after consulting with the brilliant mathematician Pierre-Simon Laplace, he came to suspect the existence of the Dark Sun. During the late 20th century, the archaeologist Max "Wizard" Epper would come to realise that references to Ra's Dark Twin meant that there was a polar opposite to the sun orbiting on the edge of the Earth's solar system. He would consult with astronomers, who could only verify that something was out there since things were being blocked from being viewed from Earth. Wizard became convinced of the Dark Star's existence, and in his research would discover references to the existence of the Machine and its components, and set out to find tangible proof. While this became Wizard's primary focus throughout his career, he became side-tracked for several years with the Golden Capstone and upcoming Tartarus sunspot event. After the sunspot was dealt with in March 2006 did he return his full attention to his Dark Sun project. In his endeavors over the next year, he recruited two of his former students, Lachlan and Julius Adamson, to try and predict the approach of the Dark Star, determining that it would be close enough to eradicate all life on Earth by March 20th of 2008. The Six Sacred Stones On December 1st 2007, Wizard and Yobu "Tank" Tanaka entered a chamber beneath Witch Mountain, where they believed the Philosopher's Stone was kept. Finding several carvings relating to the Machine, soon Wizard found one that noted that the first Pillar had to be set in place 100 days before the Dark Star's return, which was a little over a week from then. Realising that they were about to be accosted by Mao Gongli and his men, Wizard decided to send his notes on the Machine and Dark Star to Jack West Jr. After looking over Wizard's notes, Jack called together a new meeting of small nations to detail what the Canadian had discovered about the Dark Star, and iterate the necessity of restoring the Machine to repel it. Needing Wizard's full knowledge on the Dark Star, Jack led most of the team to free him from Xintan prison. Zoe, Lily and Alby, on the other hand, were sent to England to rendezvous with the Adamson twins and use the Altar Stone of Stonehenge with the Firestone during the next Titanic Rising to see what would happen. The group finished restoring the ancient site moments before the Titanic Rising began, and their cameras recorded the event as the weakened light of the Dark Sun shone upon the site, causing the lichen on the trilithons to reveal the relative locations of each of the six vertices. When Wizard, Zoe, Lily, Alby and Solomon arrived at the Neetha village, the Neethans took the Firestone from them, and during the middle of the night, Yanis sent one of his priests with the Seeing Stone and Firestone to the pinnacle of the volcano. Using them and the shrine's inclinometer, Yanis was to see the Dark Sun, affirming the existence of the Neetha's god. The Five Greatest Warriors In the course of the three-month gap between the placing of the second and third Pillars, Jack's team continued their research to locate the Machine components. During this they learned that the final three Pillars would require a second cleansing from the Basin since the Dark Sun's light would be harsher during their laying times. By mid February 2008, though there remained little more than a month until the Dark Star was close enough to wipe out life on Earth, the zero-point field's orbit around the solar system drew close enough to begin affecting the planets. The gravitational forces emitted by the Dark Star caused extreme storms on the gas planets of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, and unusual weather occurrences and tsunamis around the Earth. Watching the reports of strange weather and tsunamis, Alby realised the truth in that the Dark Sun was causing it and compared its effects on the Earth's oceans were a larger version of what the moon could do. Recalling a text from the First Vertex, Alby also realised the tsunamis caused by the Dark Sun would rise against the final Vertex entrances, likely making entering them more difficult On the day of the Dark Star's final approach to the solar system's edge, the storms and tsunamis were far more severe than they had been in the past month. People all over the Earth attempted to shelter themselves from the unusual activity as best they could, unaware of how futile their efforts would be. Fortunately, Jack and Lily were able to set the Sixth Pillar in place within the Vertex on Easter Island at the precise moment the Dark Star drew close enough into the solar system. As the Machine initiated, all of the vertices around the world activated at once, striking the Earth's iron core with their beams of light and causing a wave of harmonic waves that quickly spread out from the planet and struck the Dark Star. The energy of the impact was able to force the Dark Star further out from the planets, ensuring that it would not be able to draw close enough to Earth to wipe out all life there until the Dark Star resumed its usual orbit patterns. After The Five Greatest Warriors Years later, Cardinal Ricardo Mendoza explained to Jack how the Dark Sun and its repelling was but the second of five tasks set by the super-ancient beings to test life on Earth. (The Four Legendary Kingdoms) Attributes The Dark Sun is a zero-point field, and unlike the Earth's sun, it emits a deadly radiation that is capable of reducing planets to rubble or destroying life. It cannot be seen by the naked eye as it exists on an unknown spectrum of light. Trivia *One side of the Pillar of Knowledge that was translated by Wizard and Lily suggested that the Sirius star has a second companion star, which was depicted as being a Dark Star by the Pillar. This suggests that the Dark Star of Earth's solar system is not the only one in existence. Category:The Six Sacred Stones Category:The Five Greatest Warriors Category:Solar phenomena